Vanishing Point

“Vanishing Point” by Tim Amsden, is a compendium of experiences in his life that he exposes through his poems. He takes from every meaningful memory or any situation in his life and gives a deeper sense of the moment. His poetry is like a collection of objects that you keep, so when you happen to glance upon that collection, you know that behind it are so many memories, so many others that were part of it before. You keep it because is an antique, and it treasures not only your memories, but also the history behind it.

Like in “The Old Oriental Rug”

'Our old Oriental ruggoes back to my wife’s parentsand grandparents and great-grandparents,and before that merchant and tradersand on back to some Persian whosesamovar gurgled dark coffeeupon its swirling seaof blue and red geometry.'

It is clear the poems in “Vanishing Point” are written by a very sensitive person, who loves his wife and appreciates life in all the senses of the word, but also by someone who is looking for answers and the truth about why we are here and what our place is in the world.

As depicted in “If Truth Were a Fish and I Were a Cormorant”

'How do we know, caught in our bodies like ants in syrup?The trees won’t tell.The rocks won’t tell.Some men fiddle with their tiesand lay out truths like slabs of concrete,but they don’t know.My mother didn’t know.'

What the author presents in his poems is a journey of life experiences and I highly recommend “Vanishing Point” by Tim Amsden. My favorite poem is “When I am Old.” I felt I entered his world and enjoyed word by word, the meaning of his journey in life when he said, “I will bring out my bag of bright moments.”